Newsletter: October 2014

Dinamarca es un país con un sistema envidiable de atención de salud, basado en una medicina familiar fuerte y una oferta de cobertura de salud universal. Fui invitado a visitar Dinamarca para hablar en el Congreso Anual del Colegio Danés de Médicos de Familia y tenía muchas ganas de aprender más sobre los éxitos y también los desafíos que enfrenta la práctica de la medicina de familia danesa.

Denmark is a country with an enviable system of health care, based on strong family medicine and providing universal health coverage. I was invited to visit Denmark to speak at the annual meeting of the Danish College of General Practitioners and I was keen to learn more about the successes and also the challenges facing Danish general practice.

Hello again from Bangkok. This month I want to concentrate on WONCA awards, WONCA conferences and WONCA resources. Two sets of awards are currently available for WONCA members. The Montegut Scholarship awards provide support for one doctor from each of the seven WONCA regions to attend their regional conference annually. The Taiwan Family Medicine Research awards are available to three young researchers, to present their research at the Asia Pacific conference in Taipei next March.

In coming months, WONCA News will feature regular articles on the subject of Occupational Health including useful resources for clinical practice. This month we revisit the recent statement on worker’s health.

Dr Chloe Perdrix is a young GP from France who has embarked on a year of travel in Asia, finding out about working in other countries. This is the introduction to her story which WONCA News will follow for the next year.

WONCA was represented at the annual Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP) meeting, which this year took place September 4-5 at the World Health Organization premises, Geneva.

Health Organization's (WHO) Regional committee for South East Asia (SEAR) was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 9-12, 2014. WONCA was represented by Professor Pratap Narayan Prasad, WONCA South Asia region (SAR) president.

WONCA EMR president, Dr Mohammed Tarawneh, and Dr Oraib Alsmadi, WONCA EMR honorary treasurer, were invited as temporary advisors to attend the WHO EMR meeting on strengthening the integration and management of noncommunicable diseases in primary health care

The Montegut Global Scholars Program was established by the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation in 2010. The program will provide a scholarship for one family physician from each of the seven WONCA regions to aid their attendance at their respective regional WONCA meetings in 2015.

This Research Award is made possible by a generous donation from the Chinese Taipei Association of Family Medicine, to support three junior and emerging researchers to travel to present their paper at the 2015 WONCA Asia Pacific Region Conference

“Integración” se ha convertido en la palabra de moda en la agenda política de la Salud: la OMS , la Fundación King , y el Nuffield Trust tienen todos ellos grandes programas de trabajo sobre este tema y en el Reino Unido los manifiestos preelectorales de los partidos políticos están inundados de la necesidad de la atención "integrada". Pero hay muchas definiciones de modelo que se están debatiendo, y estas tienden a depender de la naturaleza del sistema de salud y el nivel de integración previsto.

Amanda Howe, President-elect writes another thought-provoking policy bite: ‘Integration’ has become the latest buzzword on the health policy agenda ... But there are many definitions and models being debated, and these tend to depend on the nature of the health system and the level of integration envisaged.

Miles Mack, Chair-elect of the RCGP Scotland writes: Scotland is by no means unusual in having difficulties in recruiting to remote and rural posts. At present there are many isolated mainland and island practices that are unable to recruit and in many places the Health Boards have been forced to employ short term locums or even take over the running of practices to ensure patients are provided with the care they need

WONCA was represented at the annual Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP) meeting, which this year took place September 4-5 at the World Health Organization premises, Geneva.

The international electronic journal of Rural and Remote Health research education and practice policy has published a review by Dr John Wootton of the WONCA Rural Medical Education Guidebook.

Health Organization's (WHO) Regional committee for South East Asia (SEAR) was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 9-12, 2014. WONCA was represented by Professor Pratap Narayan Prasad, WONCA South Asia region (SAR) president.

WONCA EMR executives go to a meeting with five Tunisian family medicine societies, and four academic medical schools belonging to the following universities - Tunis city, Sousse, Monastir, and Sfax

WONCA EMR president, Dr Mohammed Tarawneh, and Dr Oraib Alsmadi, WONCA EMR honorary treasurer, were invited as temporary advisors to attend the WHO EMR meeting on strengthening the integration and management of noncommunicable diseases in primary health care

Over 600 delegates attended the magnificent WONCA SAR 2014 conference, in, Chennai, during August. The Spice Route movement for young family doctors/ GPs held numerous activities. Read their report here.

Más de 2.500 especialistas en Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria asistieron del 12 al 14 de junio de este año al XXXIV Congreso de la semFYC. El 35% de los asistentes a esta actividad fueron residentes y jóvenes médicos de familia y comunitaria. Durante el Congreso, se ofrecieron 80 actividades científicas (sesiones clínicas, más de 25 talleres y reuniones mantenidas con los expertos...), y se presentaron 2.000 comunicaciones, de las cuales 1.350 fueron aceptadas.

More than 2,500 specialists in Family and Community Medicine attended the XXXIV semFYC Annual Meeting - 80 scientific activities were conducted including some international conferences as the one performed by Vasco da Gama Movement

The Montegut Global Scholars Program was established by the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation in 2010. The program will provide a scholarship for one family physician from each of the seven WONCA regions to aid their attendance at their respective regional WONCA meetings in 2015.

This Research Award is made possible by a generous donation from the Chinese Taipei Association of Family Medicine, to support three junior and emerging researchers to travel to present their paper at the 2015 WONCA Asia Pacific Region Conference

The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada has announced a new award named after Dr Charles Boelen - the International social accountability award. Applications close on October 31.